1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and method of producing hydrogen, and more particularly to an apparatus for and method of producing hydrogen using microwaves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydrogen is an important industrial material and is needed in ammonia synthesis with nitrogen to produce fertilizers, methanol production using carbon dioxide and in hydrodesulfurization and hydrocracking in the petroleum industry. Since the combustion of hydrogen produces no greenhouse gases, hydrogen is becoming a replacement fuel for hydrocarbons.
Conventional methods of hydrogen production include electrolysis, biological production, photo-electrochemical reactions and heat treatment reactions. However, electrolysis of water consumes a lot of electricity so only a small amount of hydrogen is produced this way. The rate of biological production is slow and technology for acclimating microbes is also complicated. The efficiency of photoelectrochemical reaction is low and suitable materials are still under development. Consequently, heat treatment is the most common method of hydrogen production.
Reactions used in heat treatment include water gas shift, steam reforming, gasification and pyrolysis and require a heat source to attain a reaction temperature and may use biomass, methanol, ethanol, natural gas, oil, coal and coke as at least one reactant. In conventional processes, the heat source may be combustion or electric heating. However, the temperature is hard to control when heating by combustion. Electric beating needs a relatively long time to attain reaction temperature and also a large heating space, which costs additional energy, time and space.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an apparatus for and method of producing hydrogen by microwave to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.